


How Encanis Stole Felling

by CoatTheBoneless



Series: How Encanis Stole Felling [1]
Category: Kingkiller Chronicles - Patrick Rothfuss
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 13:30:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15819855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoatTheBoneless/pseuds/CoatTheBoneless
Summary: A gift I gave to toboldlynerd for the 2017 kkc holiday exchange. Bast is pouting and generally being his bratty self because he got the Encanis mask for the Midwinter Pageant but he can't use it since everyone got snowed in.





	How Encanis Stole Felling

It was noon on the first day of the Midwinter Pageant when the snow began to fall around the Waystone Inn. And it didn’t stop for three days. The celebration began to slow as all the masked “demons” decided that they didn’t want to brave the cold and snow drifts. By noon on the third day the snow stopped, but that didn’t mean the massive drifts magically disappeared. It looked to Bast, Kote, and the rest of the town that the festivities would likely be canceled this year.

For Kote, this changed little. While the usual crowd couldn’t come by, it was still only a difference of a few men. The quiet around the Waystone Inn remained. In fact, it seemed even more present than before; the snow smothering even the most mundane of noises.

But for Bast, this changed everything.

Bast had been looking forward to the Midwinter Pageant all year. It was, by far, his favorite human holiday. He loved putting on a mask and running around in the cold, playing pranks. He loved pelting people with snowballs, bursting out of snowmen to scare people, and swiping people’s purses only to rain its contents back onto his victim from a nearby rooftop. And, best of all, this year Bast had gotten his hands on the Encanis mask.

While technically an honor, nobody really wanted to be Encanis. The town was too small, too remote, and far too superstitious to enjoy such things. But it was tradition, so the mask was usually determined by lottery. The result was secret to most of the village, of course. And this year Bast had won. He would lead the demons to their inevitable doom. But they’d have fun on the way down, he would see to that. Or he would’ve if everyone hadn’t been snowed in.

“Are you really going to mope all day?” Kote asked, breaking Bast out of his daydream. “You know, having nowhere to go can be seen as a blessing. You can be so productive! How far are you through Tourn’s Summary of the History of Literature?

Bast somehow managed to combine a glare and a roll of the eyes into a single expression. “Reshi, must you assign the most boring books in all the four corners for me to read?”

“It’s good for you, Bast. Strengthens the mind.” Kote said as he peeled vegetables for that night’s stew. Bast continued to mope.

After several minutes of silence, Kote sighed and set down his knife. “Come here, Bast.”

Bast got up and followed Kote into the back, only to come up short as Kote reemerged, holding a pair of shovels.

“You do want to use that Encanis mask, don’t you? Well, come on. We’ve work to do.”

Bast lit up. He snatched up one of the shovels and was at the door before Kote could make even a single step. He barrelled out the door, swinging his shovel back and forth to give momentum to his every step. He fell upon the snow as if attacking it, and with that, both Bast and Kote set to work clearing a path.

Bast’s initial burst of energy soon wore off. It was cold and wet, and Bast had to go back inside to “dress like a sane person for once” as Kote had put it. Despite the lack of continued snowfall, it felt like a monumental task was before them.

They worked for hours. They lit torches and placed them along their path, partially to keep the cold at bay, and partially to light a beacon to the other people in town to come help. Eventually, Aaron emerged from the smithy, and his presence seemed to encourage the others. Soon, almost every house and shop in the village had a path through the snow leading to its front door. Once the sun began dipping towards the horizon, Kote slipped back inside, emerging later with his stew. He traveled from path to path, handing out hot food to the workers. Even after dark, the work continued by torchlight. A few hours after sunset, the single path from the Waystone Inn became a tree of snow-free roads.

And with that, the Midwinter pageant was back on.

 

By noon the next day, Encanis had organized the demons into a cohesive mischief-making force. Heists were planned. Ambushes were made. And Encanis had the time of his life.

And on Felling day, just before the ceremony in which Tehlu would finally catch Encanis, the greatest of all demons stopped by The Waystone Inn. He snuck in through a window, crept down the hall, and left a single piece of paper before the innkeeper’s door before departing. When the innkeeper emerged, he almost stepped on the paper before he noticed it. He picked it up and smiled.

“‘Thank you’” he read.

Still smiling, the innkeeper took the paper into his room and placed it upon the chest at the foot of his bed. The clamor of people downstairs roused him from his trance, however, and the innkeeper turned, hurried down the stairs, and walked into an inn filled with absolutely no silence whatsoever.

**Author's Note:**

> [Find me on Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/coat-the-boneless)


End file.
